Tentacles at My Throat is a coming of age story set in three different moments of Zerocalcare’s life: primary school, junior high and his adult life. It is a complete story told in three parts; three moments that have in common that all-too-familiar feeling of having tentacles at one's throat. Three friends, their schoolgrounds, and a secret. And fifteen years later, the discovery that they all thought there was only one secret, but each had their own. And there was one more, bigger than the others, that none were aware of.
This is Zerocalcare's second graphic novel, the one that made him stand out as an intelligent, delicate, merciless narrator when it comes to describing his own weaknesses, which could in fact be everyone's. An honest, touching, intense story with a bit of Stand by me thrown in for good measure, it’s the book that made Zerocalcare a national success story in 2012 in Italy. The book has been reprinted nineteen times since its initial release, surpassing the 120,000 copies sold mark.